The steady creep of overworking

I’ve worked in consulting for over 25 years. One thing has never changed, the profession attracts workaholics. Some people have written about COVID causing people to work longer hours with the line between home and the office blurring. I personally think most people fall into 2 camps. The workaholics (who often aren’t self-diagnosed) and the rest of us. This can start right from being a junior consultant up to executive. No level of consulting is immune. When you are just starting out you need to do more hours to learn your craft. When you hit executive rank, the to-do lists are longer. 

I’m here to make a confession, I have never been a workaholic. It’s not something I usually broadcast but since I’m doing an article about it, I think honesty is important. I enjoy the things I do outside of work too much! Unless I have an early call, I usually start my day between 8:30 and 9. I generally finish before 6pm, unless I have a call that runs into the 6pm hour. I do not work at night, except for reading emails on my phone. I occasionally reply to one via my phone if it’s an easy answer and someone is waiting. Otherwise, I really try and wait until the next day. Monitoring my inbox through my phone while doing other activities is not onerous. I do not work on weekends unless there is a critical deadline. Typically, less than once a month. 

I work with many colleagues who work until 10pm and work most weekends. I marvel at their stamina and wonder when they get a chance to recharge. Burnout in consulting is a real problem and folks that sustain 80+ hour workweeks are heading there. Some are the type to share in many conversations ‘I was working last night until midnight”. I never saw that as a badge of honour. If I’m honest, I saw it as a badge of dishonour. How can you be energized the next day if your brain never gets to step away? 

I’m convinced for many people there are 2 factors at play. One, if the company norm seems to be doing that and you have new folks joining the team, is there peer pressure to simply start doing those hours because everyone else seems to be? Maybe, but the other factor is not aggressively managing your personal time as being as important as your work time.  If you are always working nights and weekends how efficiently are you working in those extra hours?

Some people talk of the need for peace and quiet away from meetings as the reason they need the outside of core working hours. To concentrate on “real” work vs attending meetings.

What if your company had the ability to shut off your laptop remotely every night at 7pm and it didn’t come on until 8am the next day. Would you have hobbies or things to do to keep you occupied? Are you just working because you have nothing else on your plate?

I remember when I started working for a new boss. The first weekend he sent me 5 emails. I debating what to do. I wanted to make a great impression. I decided on Monday to joke about it. What he shared is that while he uses his weekend time to get caught up on emails, he did not expect me to answer them all until Monday. If I hadn’t asked him about it, I probably would have kept stressing about it every weekend. 

I also try and model how important time away from work is. When people say they are going on vacation but then in the same breath say “but text me if anything is important” I try and say that is not a vacation. When people attend calls on their vacation days, I ask them why they are on the call.  I know many people who are not workaholics, but they are quite discrete about it. They don’t want to be judged as not working as hard as the people toiling away. I am here to tell you it is possible to work a regular work week and be successful. 

The next time you are working at 10pm ask yourself what you’ve accomplished from 6pm-10pm. Were you working at top speed the whole time or were you filling the time? If it’s learning something new so you can move up or into a new role – then maybe that’s an investment that make sense. If you are waiting to see your boss has logged off Sametime/Skype messenger/Teams and then you feel comfortable logging off, is it worth it?

Think of your personal time as something precious. Maybe keep a personal time log for a month to see the reality of your work hours. Try and remember how productive you were. Even better, try taking a whole weekend without opening your laptop and see if you start Monday with more energy. 

And finally, a special request, if you are someone who is not overworking, please talk about it so others can see it’s possible!